Patients Not Always Told About CT Risks
Published: Mar 5, 2013
By Cole Petrochko , Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Physicians often don’t communicate the risks of CT studies to patients undergoing the scans and usually leave patients out of the decision-making process, researchers found.

A survey of patients receiving outpatient CT scans showed that only 35% said they had discussed risks associated with the test with a healthcare professional, according to Tanner Caverly, MD, of the University of Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues.

In addition, 62% said they thought the final decision to undergo the procedure was up to their doctors, the authors wrote online in the March 4 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Full Story:  http://www.medpagetoday.com/Radiology/DiagnosticRadiology/37669

Primary source: JAMA Internal Medicine
Source reference: Caverly TJ, et al “Weighing the potential harms of computed tomography: patient survey” JAMA Intern Med 2013; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.2918.

Additional source: JAMA Internal Medicine
Source reference: O’Malley PG “Time to unveil the risk of imaging to patients” JAMA Intern Med 2013; DOI:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.653.